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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/west-bank-palestinian-forces-assault-students-protesting-controversial-university-dismissals">middleeasteye.net</a>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">West Bank: Palestinian forces assault students protesting controversial university dismissals</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">By Shatha Hammad in Nablus, occupied Palestine</div>
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<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time" dir="ltr">June 14, 2022<br></div>
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<p>Security forces at An-Najah National University in Nablus could seen
beating students and spraying them with pepper gas, footage shared on
social media showed</p>
<p><img src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/palestine-west-bank-najah-crackdown-14-june-2022.jpg?itok=z20I_d9N" alt="" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 0px;" width="392" height="261">
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<p>Security forces violently disperse a student rally at An-Najah University, on 14 June 2022 (Screengrab)</p>
<p><span>Published date:</span> 14 June 2022 20:17 UTC
<span>| </span>
<span>Last update:</span> <span id="gmail-date-updatedago">22 hours 17 mins </span> ago </p>
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<div><p>Dozens of security guards violently dispersed a student rally at
a West Bank university on Tuesday, leaving protesters and staff
wounded, footage shared on social media purported to show.</p>
<p>Security forces at An-Najah National University in Nablus could be seen <a href="https://twitter.com/qudsn/status/1536753572481839106" target="_blank">beating students</a>,
spraying them with pepper spray and forcing them out of the campus
during the protest which was in response to the university's decision to
expel a group of students last week.</p>
<p>Plain-clothed security officers could be seen <a href="https://twitter.com/qudsn/status/1536724940354887680" target="_blank">chasing students </a>in
the vicinity of the university and gunshots could be heard in the
background. No gunshot wounds were reported late on Tuesday.</p>
<p>A source told Middle East Eye that the crackdown on the protest was
supported by the Palestinian Authority Security Services (PSS).</p>
<p>Last Wednesday, undercover Palestinian Authority (PA) security
officers and members of the student arm of the ruling party Fatah, known
as the "Shabiba", reportedly <a href="https://www.arab48.com/%D9%81%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%B7%D9%8A%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%AA/%D8%A3%D8%AE%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%B1/2022/06/08/%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%A8%D9%84%D8%B3-%D9%85%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%88%D8%B4%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%B9%D8%AA%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%A1%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%B7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%A8-%D9%88%D8%B5%D8%AD%D8%A7%D9%81%D9%8A%D9%8A%D9%86-%D8%A3%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%85-%D8%AC%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%B9%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D8%AC%D8%A7%D8%AD" target="_blank">assaulted students and journalists</a> at a protest organised by the Islamic bloc, another student group affiliated with the Hamas movement.</p>
<p>The university dismissed 10 students in connection to the brawls that
followed. Five of those dismissed were members of the Islamic bloc and
five from its rival the Shabiba. The decision was denounced by both
rival student bodies.</p>
<p>A student member of the Independent Movement - a student group that
organised the protest - told MEE that the decision to hold the
demonstration came after a meeting with the university's administration
ended at an impasse.</p>
<p>The student said the crackdown began early on Tuesday when security
guards prevented students from reaching a meeting point inside the
university, leaving some trapped inside and a large number outside the
university's main gate.</p>
<p>When the students who were inside decided to go to the main gate and
demand entry for the other students, security forces began beating the
protesters and forced many outside.</p>
<p>One student member from the Independent Movement said around 40
female students gathered inside the university yard and refused to leave
until a professor intervened and granted them safe passage.</p>
<div>
<p><a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/palestine-birzeit-university-election-turning-point" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/read_more/public/images-story/birzeit-election-hamas-victory-west-bank-may-2022-afp.jpg?itok=1n0UrPW1" alt="" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 0px;" width="392" height="245"></a></p><p>Palestine: Do Birzeit University election results mark a turning point?</p>
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<p>However, eyewitnesses told MEE that security guards and members of
the Shabiba pursued some of the female students with weapons and
threatened to hurt them.</p>
<p>Professors Nasser al-Din al-Shaer and Amer Joud Allah were reportedly
attacked while trying to stop the attack and were taken to hospital.</p>
<p>The An-Najah University said in a statement that violence started
after "external groups and some of the expelled students tried to storm
the gates of the university". It added that a number of students and
security guards were injured.</p>
<p>The university also announced the transition to remote learning in the next two days.</p>
<p>The Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights said it held
the university administration "fully responsible" for the behaviour of
the security guards.</p>
<p>Hamas, which has governed the Gaza Strip since 2007 after winning
legislative elections one year earlier, called the "suppression" of
peaceful protests a "barbaric and criminal attack by the security
thuggery for which the university administration bears responsibility".</p>
<p>Hamas and Fatah split violently in 2007, leaving the Islamist
movement in control of Gaza and effectively splitting the Palestinian
territory in two. </p>
<p>An-Najah University has witnessed an escalation of the crackdown on Hamas affiliates by pro-PA forces since the 2007 infighting.</p>
<p>In the same year, Islamic bloc member Muhammad Raddad, 20, was <a href="https://www.alhaq.org/ar/advocacy/2648.html" target="_blank">killed </a>on campus when PA security officers and university guards fired live ammunition at students following a heated student meeting.</p>
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